i'm rachel maddow at our msnbc home base in new york city. and chris matthews is at the debate site. chris, before we head into the main event tonight, do you have any last thoughts in terms of the stakes here? >> yeah, i think that biden should do what obama didn't do last week. just do it that way. everything different. everything different. it will work. >> chris, what should paul ryan do, if you were advising paul ryan on having his best night tonight, what would his best night look like? >> he has to make a decision i can't make for him, does he want to win the vice presidency this time or the presidency later on? be loyal to his political base or loyal to this ticket? it's not possible to do both. he's not that good yet. >> chris matthews put a fine point on it there in terms of whether or not it's for this election or the next. that stretch that paul ryan is being asked to do, is that something that you decide whether or not you're going to do it based on what you think your future is, or is that something you decide based on winning t